Former Hillsborough safety officer 'was not in charge of turnstile setup'

The former safety officer for the Hillsborough football ground was not responsible for the turnstile arrangements at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final where 96 people were killed, his barrister has told his trial for a criminal safety offence.

Jason Beer QC, making his closing speech for the defence of Graham Mackrell, said the risk of overcrowding at the Leppings Lane turnstiles was not foreseeable, and the then Sheffield Wednesday club secretary did not fail to take reasonable care for Liverpool supporters’ safety.

“The evidence has fallen short,” Beer told the jury. “Mr Mackrell is not guilty of this offence.”

Mackrell, 69, is charged with failing to take reasonable care for the safety of 10,100 people with standing tickets to support Liverpool at the FA Cup match against Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989.

The jury at Preston crown court has heard that South Yorkshire police requirements for keeping the two clubs’ supporters segregated meant 10 turnstiles in the North Stand were not used for the match, and all 24,000 Liverpool supporters had to go through 23 turnstiles at the Leppings Lane end. The 10,100 people with tickets to stand on the terrace were allocated seven turnstiles, A-G.

Richard Matthews QC, prosecuting, has referred to the Home Office “green guide” to safety at sports grounds, which advised that turnstiles could normally process 750 people an hour, which should be sufficient for “no unduly large crowds” to build up waiting for admission.

The trial has heard that a large crowd did build up at the turnstiles leading to a crush after 2.30pm, and that at 2.52pm the match commander, Ch Supt David Duckenfield, ordered a large exit gate to be opened to alleviate it. More than 2,000 people went through the gate, many down a tunnel facing them to the terrace’s central “pens” 3 and 4, where the lethal crush developed.

Beer told the jury the crush at the turnstiles developed for several reasons other than the number of turnstiles, including differences in policing the crowd in 1989, not filtering their arrival; two fewer special trains; people arriving later; and more ticketless supporters.

The experienced South Yorkshire police match commander, Brian Mole, who was replaced 19 days before the disaster by Duckenfield, who had never commanded a match at Hillsborough, had been happy with the turnstile allocation, and it was managed successfully in the same allocation at the semi-final in 1988, Beer said.

Although the seven turnstiles for 10,100 people meant each had to process 1,443 people, one hour should not be considered the relevant time, Beer said, as the turnstiles were opened at 12pm, three hours before the scheduled 3pm kick off.

He referred to expert evidence from a former Metropolitan police football match commander, Douglas Hopkins, that people tended to arrive early for an FA Cup semi-final, but that in 1989 Liverpool supporters had a later “arrival pattern” than expected.

Beer said neither the green guide nor Mackrell’s contract of employment specified that he as the designated safety officer was responsible for the turnstile arrangements.

He referred to witnesses from the time who have described Mackrell as professional and conscientious, and similar character references provided by senior football administrators and the Labour peer and Sheffield Wednesday supporter Roy Hattersley.

“Not a single prosecution witness” had suggested Mackrell was prone to abdicate his responsibility for safety, Beer said.

The judge, Sir Peter Openshaw, will direct the jury that the significant safety defects of the Hillsborough ground itself are irrelevant to the charge against Mackrell, who was entitled to rely on the work of the club’s consultant engineers, Eastwood and Partners, Beer said. Also, no adverse inference would be drawn from Mackrell’s decision not to give evidence, which he had said was due to his inability to remember the planning arrangements for the match 30 years ago.

Mackrell is standing trial alongside Duckenfield, who is charged with gross negligence manslaughter relating to 95 of the deaths.

Duckenfield’s barrister, Benjamin Myers QC, concluded his closing speech on Wednesday by saying there were failures of other police officers on the day, and pointing to the overhaul of stadium safety, policing and stewarding which followed the disaster. “If this is the fault of one person, why change the face of British football after Hillsborough?” Myers said.

Openshaw is expected to begin his summing up of the evidence on Thursday.